Mother Kombucha

Based in: St. Petersburg, FL Founded: 2013Distribution: Florida

Just a few years after its conception, the aptly-named Mother has become one of Florida’s premier kombucha brewers. What started as a kind of unplanned experiment between a trio of friends and colleagues—Tonya and Vic Donati, along with Joshua Rumschlag—has grown into a full-scale brewery, complete with a lab where the founders play around with techniques, flavors and materials, along with a separate nursery for culture growing.

The cultures are obviously high quality, because these brews are fantastic. The lemon in Ginger Lemonade is very robust and more dominant than ginger. It also contains both green and white tea, turmeric, galangal (which is a root originating in Indonesia that resembles ginger and is used culinarily and medicinally), lemongrass and even oil of rose! We tasted floral notes, with that added layer of tartness thanks to the lemon.

Lavender Mojito, too, delivers something unique. The lavender flowers mix so nicely with the lime and hints of spearmint. A very bright, clean, nuanced beverage. Both flavors are low fizz, but have a very pleasant mildness about them that is absolutely perfect chilled on a balmy day.